division of labour. The State supervises commerce
by controlling the standard forms of contracts
through which it operates and by supporting the
organization of markets which offer scope for public
competition.

Apart from this production for individual use,
there are, of course, provisions made by the
authorities for communal use Things which can
be used only in common, like roads, town halls, and
armaments, are obvious cases in point. But the
modern State goes far beyond this in making common
provisions : it considers, in particular, that the care
for children, for the sick, the old, and the unemployed
is a public concern, and it provides services for these
from public funds. Wherever a comprehensive
interest of society can be demonstrated, which is
distinct from the sum of satisfactions given by the
exchanges made through the market, there is a
recognized obligation for the public authorities to
safeguard it; this, in general, will involve public
expenditure and thus imply a certain amount of
central economic functions The great majority of
human satisfactions are, however, of distinctly
individual character, and are parcelled out through
the market to individual consumers on a commercial

Let us now turn to the idea of collectivist planned
economy. This would base a system of divided
labour with subsequent exchange of products not
on the mutual agreement of those exchanging them,
but on a plan based on a comprehensive view of
economic life as a whole. Economic life, however,
consists of the satisfaction gained by millions of
individuals in thousands of different ways which
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